Payment of N494k as minimum wage amounts to N9.5trn yearly and it is unsustainable

The federal government has said that the organised labour’s demand for minimum wage to be pegged at N494,000 is “unsustainable”.

According to the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, the proposed minimum wage will amount to N9.5 trillion yearly and can’t be sustained. He added that this would increase the existing workers’ wage bill by 1,547 percent.

Idris said in a statement;

“The federal government’s new minimum wage proposal amounts to a 100% increase on the existing minimum wage. Labour, however, wanted N494,000, which would increase by 1,547% on the existing wage.

“The sum of N494,000 national minimum wage which labour is seeking would cumulatively amount to the sum N9.5 trillion bill to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“Nigerians need to understand that whereas the federal government is desirous of ample remuneration for Nigerian workers, what is most critical is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not encourage any action that could lead to massive job loss, especially in the private sector, who may not be able to pay the wage demanded by the organised labour.”